This full-steam-ahead vision of the progressive Enlightenment mind battling the corrupt remnants of the Dark Ages in 18th-century France comes from Argentinean journalist and comic-strip creator Pablo De Santis, author of The Paris Enigma and winner of the inaugural Premio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América. Dalessius, the calligrapher of the title, lives by the power of the written document—particularly those less authentic than they appear—and keeps with him the pickled heart of his former employer and mentor Voltaire. He recounts for us an episode from his past in which the great philosopher enlisted him to help prove the innocence of M. Calas, a Huguenot accused by the Church of murdering his own son—a mission in which young Dalessius was imperiled by inventive henchmen, ingenious execution devices, poisonous fish, and murderous automatons.

"While the prose is richly reminiscent of Umberto Eco, the headlong pace of this dark fantasy—combining elements of mystery, historical fiction, horror and the [steampunk] splinter genre clockpunk—will let readers swallow the entrancing story in a single gulp."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)